Fishing Blog primarily about fly fishing in the UK and USA. The objective is to promote the gentle art of casting the fly and catching beautiful fish. The author although a qualified fly fishing instructor with 40 years experience does not teach commercially but likes teaching and promoting fly fishing as a hobby.

Monday, 18 November 2013

Yes the boats come off the water at the end of November but there are still a few days remaining to hook up from a boat. I went down today and caught 3 beauties, the largest of which I thought was going to disappear over the horizon! It weighed in at 3lb 8 oz and was perfect in every respect. The where is: around the cages. The how is: Cats whisker or simillar lure. It was overcast and calm and the fish were near the top but only showed when they were on the chase.

Just look at that perfect tail!

The head looks pretty too.

I understand that bank fishing will be available right through to February. You can always check their website (see link at side of page). Why not join the Bewl Bridge Fly Fishing Club, brilliant value for money and you get the famous magazine with all the marvelous tips. See the link for that as well.

A big thank you to everyone who follows the blog and sends me e mails and comments.﻿

Thursday, 14 November 2013

It is not what you know but who you are related to that counts! My wife Rosalind and I were invited as guests to attend the Lord Mayor's Show because Rosalind's cousin Fiona Woolf had been elected as the 686th Lord Mayor and the second only female Lord Mayor of the City of London.

The Lord Mayors coach is spectacular! You can see it in the Museum of London.

Fiona being interviewed by the BBC. During her year of office she will visit around 30 countries and give over 700 speeches!

But Fiona still found time to have a photo taken with her cousins Rosalind and John.

The weather was a little damp but that did not stop the girls getting their glad rags on!

Over 7,000 people took part in a parade that was three miles long!

Lots of military bands and horses!

The Mayor's personal bodyguard consisted of pikemen and musketeers, very impressive.

It must be fun dressing up!

After the parade we enjoyed having luncheon at the Mansion House and meeting Rosalind's relatives who had come from all over the world for this historic event.﻿

Friday, 8 November 2013

My brother asked me to give a fly casting lesson to Jim, a business colleague, who had just retired, as a thank you present. When Jim mentioned he lived near the famous Dever Springs Trout Fishery and as I had not fished there for many years I thought we should give it a try.

Well it rained all day, but Dever is very well equipped, with a lovely lodge which was helpful. So we did the health and safety topics and the explanation of why it is called fly fishing in the dry out of the rain. Jim explained to me he had tried teaching himself to cast a fly and had given up. He also told me that the main outcome he wanted from the day was to learn to cast and that if he caught a fish that would be a bonus. So we started on the grass, then graduated to the lake but with a piece of fluff on instead of a fly and went through all the basics. Fortunately, Jim was a quick learner and by listening, asking and then copying he was soon casting far enough to cover fish. So we switched to a real fly and started fishing and the rain kept coming down. Jim hooked and lost a couple and finally failure could not cope with persistance and he landed his first rainbow trout weighing in at just over 4lb.

As you can see Jim was over the moon with his catch. We fished on and Jim had a couple of other fish on but they got away. Other anglers had caught a lot of fish earlier in the day obviously all the "easy" ones, so the fishing got harder and the rain wetter so we called it a day.

My friend Rowland and I were fishing Bewl and I thought that the floating booby and hopper techniques of a few days earlier would still work. However, after an hour on the water drifting over the recent "hot spot" there was no sign of action. So we motored round to the upwind side of the cages and tied up to a buoy. We soon noticed that another fly fisher was hitting fish. Not being proud and wanting to make sure Rowland connected I called across and asked what they were on. He kindly replied that it was gold head daddies a few feet down.

I switched immediately and on my third cast was rewarded with a fish. Then I went on to have some more takes and I got broken and lost my last Daddy. Rowland kindly gave me one. I think he gave it, but he might only have lent it! Anyway I have still got it!

This is the gent who kindly tipped me off as to what to use and how to fish it. By this time another boat had moved on to a buoy the other side of us and they were immediately into fish. Then a chap with his girl friend turned up. She must have been very devoted to him because it was quite cool and a bit breezy and bumpy!

I came away with four good fish and Rowland had his share. Back at the car I spoke to the guys from the other boat, one had eight fish using a cats whisker and the other had four. Thinking back I realised that the fish I had caught had all taken the daddy when I was retrieving quite fast. I think if you retrieve a daddy fast it tends to look more like a lure imitating fry, so maybe I could have caught simply using lures.﻿

Saturday, 2 November 2013

Here in the UK there
is a lot in the news about soaring energy costs and the discomfort and risk to
people who cannot afford to heat their homes adequately.Having had over fifty years’ experience, in a professional capacity, of
trying to provide suitable internal environments for people in buildings I thought I would
try to offer something useful by way of guidance on the subject.

In what follows I have
tried to explain things in layman’s terms.First, let us consider the factors affecting human’s thermal
comfort.These personal factors are:-

·Metabolism
(all the chemical factors in a human being that result in energy production).In this respect we are all different.

·Amount
and type of clothing.Another area where
we are all different!

So doing some fairly
vigorous exercise before going to bed will mean you will slide between the
sheets feeling warm, whereas sitting around all evening watching the TV will
lower your metabolic rate and mean that you go to bed feeling cold.

Similarly wearing warmer
clothing which reduces the natural heat loss from your body will result in your
feeling warmer.People in bygone days
realised this and that is why nightcaps and bed socks were popular in unheated
bedrooms in draughty houses.I wish I
could get my wife to wear bed socks, instead she prefers warming her feet up on
my legs!

·Relative
humidity (in winter when internal relative humidity is generally low this does
not have a significant effect so we will ignore it)

If the air temperature
around your body is below your body’s surface temperature your body will lose
heat to the air and you will feel cooler.If the surfaces around you are colder than your skin surface temperature
your body will radiate heat to those surfaces and you will feel cooler.If air is moving over your bare skin then it
will evaporate moisture from your skin and for this evaporation to take place
energy is required and the energy comes from your body making it feel colder.You can prove this evaporation effect for
yourself by licking the back of your hand and then blowing across the licked
area.You will feel it go cold and your
body will then have to warm it up again.The heat to warm your skin up has to come from your body.

Hopefully what we have
looked at above is second nature to you and you dress appropriately keeping
body parts covered (insulated) and you might consider wearing bed socks or even
a night cap if your bedroom is cold at night.

Now let us look at the
environmental factors, but before we do we must consider the two ways in which
heat is lost from a room.

·If
there is a temperature difference across a room surface (say a wall with 1 deg
C outside and 21 deg C inside) then heat will want to flow from the warm side
to the cold side.We call this a “fabric
loss” because heat is flowing through the fabric of the room.We insulate walls, ceilings and floors to
make it harder for the heat to flow through them.We double glaze windows for the same reason.

·If
a wind or breeze hits an obstruction it results in high pressure on one side of
the obstruction and low pressure on the downwind side. If there is an air
pressure difference across a room (or a building) due to a breeze or wind then
the high pressure air tries to reach the low pressure air by flowing round the
obstruction or through it.We call the
effect in the room a draught!The effect
of the room air being changed by draughts is very significant in terms of heat
loss particularly in older buildings when in windy conditions the whole volume
of room air may be changed one or even two times per hour.All of this air has to be heated up to room
temperature in order to maintain that temperature and the required comfort
level.Also if there is a lot of air
movement in a room due to draughts the occupants will feel cooler.

Given all of the above
what are the practical ways available to help maintain comfort whilst reducing
energy bills?

In terms of reducing
the “fabric loss” the straightforward ones are:-

1.Insulate the room/building surfaces
with cavity and roof insulation or surface insulation if a solid wall.

2.Use
heavy curtains, preferably from floor to ceiling and keep them closed when
possible.Close blinds especially at
night.

3.Insulate
behind radiators with foil faced polystyrene sheets.

4.Insulate
the floor with thick carpets and underlay.

5.Turn
off radiators in parts of the home that are unoccupied or if radiators are
fitted with thermostatic radiator valves reduce the setting.Shut the doors to these areas.

6.I
was always being asked which is best: do you turn your heating off when not
required or is it better to keep it running continuously.In terms of saving energy you should turn it
off (preferably onto a frost protection setting so you don’t get frozen pipes).Common practice, especially if you have young
children, who kick their bed clothes off, is to turn the thermostat down at
night or if you have a two zone system, only keep the bedroom zone running at
night.

7.Warm air systems involving fans,
heater batteries, ducts and grilles will heat up a home quicker than water
systems so the pre heat period is shorter but they do result in more air
movement so room temperatures usually need to be slightly higher than for a
radiator system which does not have increased air velocities.Make sure the vanes on the grilles direct the
warm air down otherwise you will have cosy temperatures at ceiling levels
whilst being cold in the occupied area.

Regarding controlling
infiltration a balance has to be struck between health and safety issues and
controlling energy costs.Even if it
were possible to eliminate air movement from outside completely it would not be
desirable.Room occupants require oxygen
to breath and the dilution of the carbon dioxide they breath out.Both require some fresh air entering the
space.If the room is being warmed by a
heat source that involves combustion actually in the room such as a gas fire,
oil fired heater or even a multi fuel heater it is crucial that adequate fresh
air ventilation to the room or appliance is provided.So don’t go blocking off vents specifically
provided for combustion air supply.To reduce
ventilation for combustion can result in the appliance producing a deadly gas
called carbon monoxide.This colourless,
tasteless and odourless gas makes one feel happy as a prelude to
unconsciousness and death as it restricts the flow of oxygen to vital organs.

In terms of reducing
the infiltration loss here are some practical suggestions:-

1.On a breezy cold day check windows,
doors, skirting, etc. for obvious draughts using the back of a damp hand.You will only be able to feel the air coming
in on the windward side of the building, so you need to repeat the exercise
when the wind is blowing from other directions.Having determined where the draughts are you need to try to block or
restrict the air path using an appropriate method. Some suggested methods are:-

a.For old metal casement windows with
warped frames – clean off the window edges, put a release agent on one surface
(washing up liquid) and a clear silicone sealant on the mating surface and close
the window.Twenty four hours later the
window can be opened again but by then the silicone should have made a perfect
seal.If you forget the release agent
you will probably never get the window open again!

b.Old wood sliding sash windows are
more of a challenge.If you are looking
for a cheap temporary fix, either wipe clean and tape over all the gaps or tape
a polythene sheet over the whole opening.This is also the way to carry out a temporary fix if the window pane is
broken.

c.Silicone seal any cracks or gaps
around the frame and also check under the window sill.

d.With double glazed units check all
the edge seals are in place and if not replace.Quality double glazed units usually come with “trickle vents” at the
top.These could be closed during severe
weather conditions but I usually like to see them left open to provide normal
ventilation.

e.Pay particular attention to external
doors, fitting draught strips if necessary and using the old-fashioned fabric
sausages laid along the door bottom to block draughts.

f.During
windy weather it reduces cold air infiltration of outside air if all internal
doors are kept closed.

g.If you don’t have fitted carpets then
check the gaps under skirting boards.If
you cannot afford or cannot use a sealant gun then fold up strips of newspaper
or card and force the strips into any gaps.

Finally, if you feel your thermostat is set too high, don't suddenly turn it down a couple of degrees, that will only upset other members of the family. Do a staged reduction over a week so they and you can acclimatize.

I expect there are some suggestions I have missed, so please let me know if you think of any.

Friday, 1 November 2013

My old fishing pal Richard suggested we fished Bewl together today, so how could I refuse having remembered how well it fished this time last year. He kindly offered to provide the transport so we had a good catch up chat on the way down.

The great thing about fishing with Richard is that he just loves being there and doesn't complain if he is not catching. The challenging thing, for me, is that he sometimes out fishes me!

In preparation for the trip I had read the latest fishing report from Janet in the Fishing Lodge. Here it is:-

Fishing has been a bit more difficult this week . Very strong winds and heavy rain have made conditions on the water uncomfortable. However, rod average for the week still a reasonable 2.34.

The fish have remained in the top 1-2 feet of the water. Best areas for boats have been Chingley, the Main Bowl and Hook Straight and for bank fishing have been Bramble Point, Ferry Point, Ward's Lane and Chingley. Successful flies are again Minkies, Minky Boobies, Cormorants and Daddies. (We have sold out of all Minkies and Minky Boobies in the Bewl Fishing Lodge). Vince Brooks' Annual Charity Competition took place on Saturday in high winds. 83 anglers caught 168 trout giving a rod average of 2.02. The winner was Keith Lawrence with 7 fish weighing 13lb 1oz. £1,307 was raised

for Fishing For Forces. Boat fishing runs to end of November but part of fleet is now off the water for winter maintenance so a reduced number are available. To avoid disappointment and a wasted journey, prior booking, especially at weekends, is strongly advised. Lodge open through November 0830-1030 only.

So I imagined the fishing would be a bit challenging, but having been briefed on a few tips by my personal Bewl mentor (RB) I switched to fishing a minky booby and a couple of black hoppers on droppers using a 6lb leader. I was still tying on my droppers when there was a tremendous splash and Richard was into his first fish. Sadly after a brief encounter it shot away to live for another day. Shortly after that I took a fish on the minky booby and having played it very carefully coaxed it into the net. It's rainbow colours were stunning. We motored the boat round to drift over the same spot. I like to drift from a known position, usually a buoy, so if I find fish I can repeat the drift and hopefully find them again.

I then experienced a savage take, so savage that the line parted at one of the dropper knots and I said farewell to fish and most of the leader! Fortunately I had used the dodge mentioned in a recent Bewl Angle Magazine and brought with me some fresh leaders, complete with flies, carefully wrapped around a length of foam pipe insulation as shown. Well actually not as shown because I used the flies and leader!

Within a minute or two I was back in action. We both rose several more fish and had "takes" but we did not hook up and then the breeze dropped and the surface activity stopped. We did all the usual things, changed location, Richard used an intermediate line with lures and all the time we were watching the other boats. Then we did a bit of a tour, got drenched by the odd shower and even tried the dam where the waves were a bit uncomfortable. Finally we went back to where we had started and as the sun dropped towards the horizon the fish started to move again and we had some swirls and follows. Sadly we had to be off the water by 3.30pm as we are now on GMT and it gets dark quite early.

Walking back to the car we chatted to another boat fisher, who said in the afternoon he had seen 15 fish showing on the top. Using a single sparkling booby on a 15 foot leader he had managed to catch 5 of them! So obviously Richard and I just need more practice!